Surrealist Paintings
SURREALIST STYLE
In the wake of World War I’s ravaging of Europe, artists delved into the unconscious mind to confront and grapple with this reality. Poet and critic André Breton, a leader of the Surrealist movement who authored the 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, called this approach “a violent reaction against the impoverishment and sterility of thought processes that resulted from centuries of rationalism.” Surrealist art emerged in the 1920s with dreamlike and uncanny imagery guided by a variety of techniques such as automatic drawing, which can be likened to a stream of consciousness, to channel psychological experiences.
Although Surrealism was a groundbreaking approach for European art, its practitioners were inspired by Indigenous art and ancient mysticism for reenvisioning how sculptures, paintings, prints, performance art and more could respond to the unsettled world around them.
Surrealist artists were also informed by the Dada movement, which originated in 1916 Zurich and embraced absurdity over the logic that had propelled modernity into violence. Some of the Surrealists had witnessed this firsthand, such as Max Ernst, who served in the trenches during World War I, and Salvador Dalí, whose otherworldly paintings and other work responded to the dawning civil war in Spain.
Other key artists associated with the revolutionary art and literary movement included Man Ray, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Frida Kahlo and Meret Oppenheim, all of whom had a distinct perspective on reimagining reality and freeing the unconscious mind from the conventions and restrictions of rational thought. Pablo Picasso showed some of his works in “La Peinture Surréaliste” — the first collective exhibition of Surrealist painting — which opened at Paris’s Galerie Pierre in November of 1925. (Although Magritte is best known as one of the visual Surrealist movement’s most talented practitioners, his famous 1943 painting, The Fifth Season, can be interpreted as a formal break from Surrealism.)
The outbreak of World War II led many in the movement to flee Europe for the Americas, further spreading Surrealism abroad. Generations of modern and contemporary artists were subsequently influenced by the richly symbolic and unearthly imagery of Surrealism, from Joseph Cornell to Arshile Gorky.
Find a collection of original Surrealist paintings, sculptures, prints and multiples and more art on 1stDibs.
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Style: Surrealist
IN VINO VERITAS, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
By Marcelo Novo
Located in Yardley, PA
This piece is part of my "Contrast Series". "Like a musician playing by ear and improvising as he goes, my art begins not with cautious preliminary sketches but working directly on ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Innocentia, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Allegorical portrait. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"And Lovely, Learn by Going Where to Go" - Contemporary surreal acrylic painting
Located in Nyack, NY
Lotte Petricone's paintings blend representational and abstract imagery. The interplay of color, value, and texture creates a sense of space and movement throughout the image, while ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Wood Panel
Questions IV, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
The gilt edged mirror has a kind of Trompe-l'Å“il effect. I intended the mirror to look 3D and the Trompe-l'Å“il effect was an added bonus. This tend...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
CRAZY EYES, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Bill Stone
Located in Yardley, PA
She’s got those crazy eyes that look right through you. (Side-stapled canvas, should be framed.) :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of auth...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Steady in the Wind" - Contemporary surreal acrylic painting on wood panel
Located in Nyack, NY
Lotte Petricone's paintings blend representational and abstract imagery. The interplay of color, value, and texture creates a sense of space and movement throughout the image, while ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Wood Panel
"Go With The Flow" Fantasy and Surreal Oil on Canvas by acclaimed British artist
Located in Southampton, NY
In continuing with representing fine artists that are connected to the music industry we are please to announce that we are the only gallery in the United States representing the wor...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
“Swimmerâ€, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Oil painting and Silver leaf :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: Yes :: ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Marvel.IV Abstract silver leaf framed painting, Painting, Acrylic on Paper
By Sia Aryai
Located in Yardley, PA
Gold leaf is brilliant for modern painting. Brings to life elegant details that appear as an icon. Painting is 12X16.5†acrylic with a dash of gold leaf with a twist on heav...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
"Fragrance of Lemon Trees", Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
© Paulo Jimenez 2021 :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: Yes :: Signatur...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Separation of Creation Oil Painting
By John U. Abrahamson
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Dramatic oil on canvas surrealist painting by John Abrahamson (American 20th Century) depicting a nude male with the motto Partitus Ero or I wager in Latin. Abrahamson is known for h...
Category
20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$3,600 Sale Price
20% Off
Nautical Vintage Voyage of Yesteryear, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Grace Diehl
Located in Yardley, PA
For this unique, original a ceramic egg was merged into a seascape for a surreal styled painting. The egg features nostalgia of jubilant sailor boys on their travels in a hot air bal...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Surreal Collage: 'Happy Valley'
Located in New York, NY
Barnett, a surrealist artist incorporates discarded mechanical objects and gadgets into his artwork. His work is characterized by its unique and ecl...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
Babel to Basel- surreal painting oil on canvas blue grey shades
Located in Miami, FL
Professionally known as Vignoli, was a Brazilian painter and sculptor. He began his career in 1982 creating canvases in oil on canvas, where he appli...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Calling Out
Located in Kingston, WA
A solitary scene unfolds as a small silhouette of a dog perches on a weathered ledge overlooking a vast, serene seascape. Against a backdrop of calm waters, two boats, painted in war...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Home Fire
Located in Los Angeles, CA
YURI MARTINEZ RAMOS
"HOME FIRE
OIL ON CANVAS, SIGNED
CUBAN-AMERICAN, C.2006
20 X 16 INCHES
Home Fire" brings me back to my childhood home when my grandpa visited us every day smoking his pipe and conversing good moments.
Yuri Martinez Ramos was born in Havana, Cuba on November 24, 1964.
He studied at the Elemental School of Plastic Arts from 1975 – 1979 and the National School of the Arts from 1979 – 1983.
Martinez’ figurative paintings have been compared to Botero because of his satirical social commentary. His style, however, is uniquely his own with typically vibrant Latin colors and use of expressive magical realism. His paintings tell his story and the story of the Cuban dilemma.
Martinez was granted permission by the US Justice Department after much effort with Cuban authorities to come to the US with his family and pursue his career outside Cuba. He now lives and works in Texas.
Papillon Gallery...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$1,688 Sale Price
24% Off
The Drummer and the Flutist IV painting from Afric, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
It's a painting from Central Africa of a music duo singing and playing flute and drums by Cameroon artist Angu Walters. This painting will ship from t...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Pique Nique beside the Lake
Located in London, GB
GREGOIRE MICHONZE 1902-1982
KiChinev (Bessarabia) 1902-1982 Paris (Russian / French)
Title:Pique Nique beside the Lake, 1957
Technique: Original Si...
Category
1950s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Magic Circles - Acrylic Painting by Frida & Raul -2022
Located in Roma, IT
Magic Circles is a beautiful acrylic painting realized by the Italian artists Frida & Raul in 2022.
Hand-signed.
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
$1,261 Sale Price
25% Off
African Lady - Original Mixed Media by Sergio Barletta - 1997
Located in Roma, IT
African Lady is an original painting and collage artwork in mixed media -ink, tempera and watercolor- realized by Sergio Barletta in 1997
Hand-signed on ...
Category
1990s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media, Ink, Tempera, Watercolor
$765 Sale Price
25% Off
Storm in Porto, Painting, Oil on Wood Panel
Located in Yardley, PA
One of the surreal vison of human faced with irrepressible power of nature. Symbolic figure of kid showing how small we are in this whole mill of cases. Knowing this should we be wor...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Santa Maria Della Salute, Surrealist Oil Painting by George Russin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Santa Maria Della Salute
George Russin, American (1910–2010)
Date: circa 1970
Oil on Masonite, signed l.r.
Size: 14 x 11 in. (35.56 x 27.94 cm)
Frame Size: 20 x 17 inches
Category
1970s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Carmelo Niño, Gran arlequín, 2019, 200 x 100 cm, 78.7 x 39.3 in.
By Carmelo Niño
Located in Miami, FL
Carmelo Niño
Gran arlequín, 2019
Acrylic on canvas
200 x 100 cm
78.7 x 39.3 in.
The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the ar...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
"Alas, Again (Self Portrait in Absentia)" - surrealist portriat, bird, pattern
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting features hues of green, purple and yellow.
Guy Robinson is inspired by the work of Paul Klee, Albrecht Durer and Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
Guy Robinson is an Atlanta-based...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
"Reflection 4" - surrealist portrait, flowers, rainbow, blue birds, love
By Guy Robinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting features hues of green, purple, blue, red, and yellow.
This surrealist portrait features blue birds, flowers, paint tubes and patterns.
Guy Robinson is inspired by the...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Surreal Figurative Painting, "Elegance and Power" 2024
Located in San Diego, CA
This is an original Oil on Canvas figurative painting by Charlene Mosley. A cirtificate of authenticity will follow delivery. It is framed as pictured.
Charlene Mosley’s current wor...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
The Past is Present
Located in Kingston, WA
In this artwork, I sought to blend the boundaries between the tangible and ethereal—a surreal vista that pulls the observer into a dialogue between past and present. The ethereal fac...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
French Neo-Romantic Surrealist Painting "Circus" by Kristians Tonny
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Kristians Tonny
(French, born Holland; 1907-1977)
Circus
Oil on prepared board, 16 1/2 x 13 inches
Framed: 22 x 19 inches (approx.)
Inscribed on reverse: (in pencil) "cadre noir/ave...
Category
1920s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
$5,200 Sale Price
20% Off
Blech und Begierde
By Paul Pretzer
Located in Torino, TO
Paul Pretzer's canvases bring us into scenes of black humour: the absurd, disasters, strange happenings, fantastic scenes that reveal stylistic connections with the works of master o...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
The Sacrifice Of The Favorite Hen Cuban Surrealist
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
"El sacrificio de la gallina predilecta" The Sacrifice Of The Favorite Hen 2024
Oil on canvas artist signed and dated, will be frame before shipping.
Isa...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Ink, Oil
"No.B222 Window Boy", Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Jan Sowarby
Located in Yardley, PA
20 x 20 A slightly unsettling scene of the back of a boy in a half shuttered window of a Provencal farmhouse. What's going on? :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Green Capitel
Located in CAMPO REAL, ES
The work Green Chapitel, explores the relationship between architecture and color, highlighting an architectural fragment: the column and the capital. The work uses in this case a gr...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Oil, Wood Panel
Sprühen und Spüren
By Paul Pretzer
Located in Torino, TO
Paul Pretzer's canvases bring us into scenes of black humour: the absurd, disasters, strange happenings, fantastic scenes that reveal stylistic connections with the works of master o...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
20th Century Oil on Canvas French Signed Alain Cadoret Surrealist Painting, 1975
Located in Vicoforte, IT
French painting dated 1975. Oil on canvas artwork, first canvas, depicting a surrealist subject with a strong visual impact. Nicely sized and pleasantly decorated painting, signed an...
Category
1970s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Harbinger, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
By Sandra Lamb
Located in Yardley, PA
The title, as usual, is key. Is the black dog a harbinger of doom or a harbinger of joy? There's a great luminosity just behind and around the corner. Is it the light from the apocal...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
The Beach at Noon, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
The beach can be a surreal place where rock formations can create fantastic shapes such as I saw at the Cote de Granite Rose in Brittany. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece com...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
“Traveling Together” 2012 colorful Abstract oil on board Armenian Artist VATCHE
Located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA
“Traveling Together” is a colorful, abstract, surrealist painting by Armenian artist, Vatche Geuvdjelian painted in 2012.
Artist’s Statement
“𝘛𝘩�...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Board, Oil
Lunar Encounter with Child, Surrealist Portrait, Oil on Canvas, 1958, Framed
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Lunar Encounter with Child" by Philadelphia born modernist painter Leon Kelly, is a large, brightly colored surrealist portrait of two figures. The 40" x 30" oil on canvas was paint...
Category
1950s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$25,000 Sale Price
61% Off
Modern times, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Asher Topel
Located in Yardley, PA
The advancement of technology changes the map of people's professions and sources of livelihood, will result in the disappearance of many professions and will require high specializa...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Something in the Water, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
"Something in the Water" Large oil painting on white square stretched canvas, gallery wrapped with white edges. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certifi...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
In the Right Place, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This painting was selected to be part of "2019 People's Gallery" at Austin City Hall! About this painting: I am fascinated by nature. I believe that we are all connected with nat...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Carnival '1', Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This Art work is about the Carnival festival. The colours used,the costume,the scenery all add up to explain what Carnival is about.A celebration of joy,merrymaking.A time to bring t...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Surrealist Landscape, Mountain with Nude Woman - Perls Gallery
Located in Miami, FL
A nude white woman gazes out and over a Giorgio de Chirico like surrealist landscape to an overly dramatic sunset with stylized orange rays. In the center of the composition is a cut-out of a mountain with a moat. In the extreme foreground is a silhouetted orange plane with a spiral of leaves. Along with the empty landscapes of de Chirico, it's possible that Frederick Haucke was influenced by Salvador Dalí " The Persistence of Memory" in 1931, and Dali's painting was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in 1934. In that painting, Dali, paints a vacant landscape doted with symbols from the unconscious. This painting by Frederick Haucke owes a debt to giants of the Surrealist movement but still, Haucke carves out his style. The shape of the nude's hair echoes the shape of the sunset. What the symbolism to the mountain is and the flower in the foreground we will leave to the viewer to speculate. It was shown at the very prestigious Pearls Gallery in New York City. Artists in the famous Perls' stable included Derain, Dufy, Rouault, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Pascin, Soutine, Chagall and Vlaminck. With a 1971 retrospective of Alexander Calder's work. This Haucke from the Perls Gallery...
Category
1940s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
frames, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Oil on canvas, 1994, 100 x 60 cm. A man walks, he notices something while he is going, then he goes further. The three shots, placed next to each other, partially overlapping, d...
Category
1990s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
I Want To Live With You, Even When We're Ghosts, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This abstract painting of two figures joined at the spine comments on a combined lifestyle of domestic partnership. The commitment in love despite the perpetual chance of loss is exq...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Emanation, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Slav Nedev
Located in Yardley, PA
A work (# 13) from the ELEMENTS series Why did I call this series elements? Because there is air in it, there is water, there are earth and fire… There are birth, life and death, s...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Romantic Energy, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Amelia Galli
Located in Yardley, PA
In the platforms of the future, poetry takes over. Light, energy, warmth but with romance. So that these metal monsters in the middle of the sea, become a destination for poets and "...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
New Order, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
The sides of this canvas were painted so there is no need for a frame. It's ready to hang! Thank you for looking at my art. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an off...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Illusión
Located in Natchez, MS
Cuban artist Ernesto Capdevila insists his paintings are rather more like drawings, in technique, than paintings. I'm not sure I completely agree, though I do see his point. In this ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
Man with the swan, Painting, Oil on MDF Panel
Located in Yardley, PA
Portrait of a man with a swan. :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: No :: Signed: Yes :: ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Blossom, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Slav Nedev
Located in Yardley, PA
A work (#6) from the ELEMENTS series Why did I call this series elements? Because there is air in it, there is water, there are earth and fire… There are birth, life and death, ...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
THE CMPAIGN, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
A FEW BRUSHSTROKES AND AN IDEA. ..... :: Painting :: Surrealism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed:...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Post-urban Vision No. 1, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Slav Nedev
Located in Yardley, PA
A work from the Post-urban Visions series - a series that transcends the existence of today's highly urbanized industrial society and envisages a future (post-urban) state when the h...
Category
Early 2000s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Ocean dwellers '1', Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
One of the beauty of nature is the ocean which is filled with various kinds of creatures. I am attracted to the fishes in these water bodies and the beauty of them moving to and fro ...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Copper Rain, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
By Timon Sloane
Located in Yardley, PA
I let the painting take me where it would on this one. The photo that inspired it was somewhat romantic and melancholy. I added the puddles, struggling with their imagery. I used to think that the copper in the puddles...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - Chiens N.2
By Helen Uter
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas
Helen Uter is an established Franco-American painter born in 1955 who lives and works in Donnery, near Orléans, France. Heavily influenced by Edward Hopper, she creat...
Category
1990s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
$2,880 Sale Price
20% Off
French Contemporary Art By Helen Uter - Chiens N.5
By Helen Uter
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas
Helen Uter is an established Franco-American painter born in 1955 who lives and works in Donnery, near Orléans, France. Heavily influenced by Edward Hopper, she creat...
Category
1990s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
$2,880 Sale Price
20% Off
Surreal Collage: 'The Witness'
Located in New York, NY
Combining found elements with those fashioned by my own hand, my work encompasses two- and three-dimensional collage as well as sculptural objects. Infused with a rich sense of histo...
Category
2010s Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
HOMAGE TO THE CLASSICS
Located in Aventura, FL
Original oil painting on canvas. Hand signed on front by the artist. Canvas is stretched.
Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included. All reasonable...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$3,600 Sale Price / item
40% Off
Beach Scene oil on canvas by Louis Wolchonok
Located in Hudson, NY
About the artist: Louis Wolchonok studied art at the National Academy of Design, City College of New York, Julian Academy in Paris, and the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Art. In addition ...
Category
Mid-20th Century Surrealist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Surrealist paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Surrealist paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple, green and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Elvic Steele, Rudolf Kosow, Isabel Rock, and Henry David Potwin. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Surrealist paintings, so small editions measuring 2 inches across are also available. Prices for paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1 and tops out at $400,000, while the average work sells for $2,999.